I grin, changing gear. “How did you know?”
I see him turn his head out of the corner of my eye, and I can just make out his raised eyebrows and smirking mouth.
“Abbi,” he says. “Everywhere you’ve shown me is your favorite place. The park, the promenade, Holly’s… Now wherever the hell we’re going is, too.”
“So I have a lot of favorite places. Shoot me.” I shrug a shoulder. “You’ll love it here. I promise.”
“You’ve been right about every other place so far, so I guess I should trust you. But did we really have to go after dance?”
“You work almost every night. This is a place you have to see at night. It adds to the magic.”
“Can you tell me where we’re going now?”
“You should like a child.” I laugh. “Okay, okay. We’re going to Coney Island.”
“Helpful, Abbi. Really helpful.” Blake groans. “Where and what is Coney Island?”
“Well, it’s an island of sorts.”
“You took your smart-arse pills today.”
I giggle. “Say that again.”
He frowns at me. “Say what?”
““Arse.””
I stop at some lights and look at him. He’s smiling, his striking green eyes alight with silent laughter.
“Why?”
“Just say it.”
“Arse.”
I giggle again.
“Why is that so funny?”
I shrug as I pull away and turn the corner that leads to the parking lot. “It’s just the way you say it. I think it’s your accent – it’s that proper British one. A Downton Abbey accent.”
A heart-stopping, breath-taking, giggle-inducing British accent.
“I think I’m supposed to be flattered by that.”
“Aren’t you?”
“I’m undecided.” He laughs, and we both climb from the car. The sea breeze crawls across the beach to where we’re standing, and I zip my sweatshirt up even though it’s June and summer is finally taking over from spring.
Where in Brooklyn I’m constantly surrounded by the past, Coney Island is one of the few places untainted by any memories of Pearce. Here, I’m totally free from everything to do with him. I can just be me – the me I want to be.
Maybe that’s why I brought Blake here. Perhaps subconsciously, I wanted to take him to a place that has no association with Pearce to work out how I feel emotionally. Because I feel something physically.
I feel butterflies in my stomach when he looks at me, and shivers tickle their way across my skin when he touches me. Every time he laughs I have to fight the urge to laugh with him.
But my emotions are so confused. So frail. So volatile.
And I’m not sure if anyone can handle the rollercoaster that is my fight with depression.
“Where are you taking me?” Blake’s voice pulls me from my rapidly darkening thoughts, and I focus on crossing the street to the amusement parks. I look in the direction of the Wonder Wheel standing tall.
“Really? You’re telling me you can’t see the giant damn wheel over there?” I ask him in disbelief.
“Of course I can bloody see it. That wheel is huge.”
“Well then. We’re going there.”
“You brought me to a fair?”
“Of sorts. It’s more of an amusement park, really. Plus, the beach is great for a relaxing walk. Sometimes I need a break even from dancing.”
Blake nods slowly. “So you’re telling me you wanted to walk on the beach and dragged me along for the ride?”
“Something like that.” I grin up at him.
“How do you know I didn’t have other plans?”
“Because you agreed to come.” I pause as I put my hands in my sweater pockets. “And you don’t know anyone else in Brooklyn.”
We walk into Deno’s Park and he nudges me with his elbow. “Shut up. Are we going on that wheel or what?”
~
“You could have warned me the damn thing wasn’t stationary,” Blake grumbles, shuddering.
I laugh. “It’s a wheel. Why the hell would it be still?”
“I meant the carts, Abbi! Damn thing nearly threw me out!”
“Don’t be such a wimp,” I tease. “I’m a girl and I took it better than you did!”
“And I bet you’ve done it a thousand times. In England, those things have stationary carts. The way they should be.”
I turn and walk backwards, smiling at him in the waning light. He runs his fingers through his already messy hair, ruffling it even more, and smiles lopsidedly at me.
“What?”
“If you keep moaning, I think I’ll just run back to my car and leave you here.”
He raises his eyebrows. “You think if you ran from me I couldn’t catch you?”
I shrug carelessly, backing into the crowd. “Why don’t you try it?”
His eyes flare, and my heart thumps as I tear my gaze from his and push my way through the people around me. A small giggle bubbles inside my chest, and I clamp my hand over my mouth to stop it escaping. I look over my shoulder but I can’t see him anywhere, so I cheat, skipping out of the park and onto the boardwalk.
My feet hit the wood, my footsteps barely distinguishable from those around me. Children storm up and down the boardwalk, laughing and shouting as they chase each other, running circles around their parents. I sidestep to avoid two small boys screaming at each other as their father pretends to be a monster.
I’m momentarily distracted by the memory of Maddie’s father doing the same thing to her and I as our pigtails flew wildly behind us. We nearly always went onto the beach to try and outrun him but it failed every time, ending with us both rolling around in the sand. But that was the fun part – all of us knew how it would end, and although her dad pretended to be mad, he always laughed just as hard as we did. And he still chased us the next time we came.
My lips curve upwards, warmth spreading through my body. For once a happy memory – one that defined a huge part of my childhood. One that will stay with me forever.
“I told you I’d catch you.”
I jump and scream, pressing a hand to my chest. Blake’s hands are hot on my arms even through the material of my sweater, and he laughs loudly as I let all the air whoosh from my lungs.
“You ass!” I breathe out, shoving his chest. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“What? Scared you or caught you?” He grins, and his eyes hold a playful challenge.